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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23461882">Atlas Declassified: Hex-Code</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomPariah/pseuds/FandomPariah'>FandomPariah</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Atlas: Declassified [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Minor Character Death, Morally Ambiguous Character, Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 15:47:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,145</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23461882</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomPariah/pseuds/FandomPariah</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sentient Robots and Aura manipulation are far from the only secret projects that Atlas has undertaken.<br/>The Atlas Declassified series explores some of the other skeletons in the Icy Kingdoms' closet.</p><p>This is part one of a three part series.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Atlas: Declassified [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1705714</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Atlas Declassified: Hex-Code</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>RWBY &amp; All associated trademarks are property of Rooster Teeth (RIP Monty Oum)</p><p>I claim no ownership of anything except my own original characters.</p><p>I am making no money from this.</p><p>
  <b>Atlas Declassified:</b>
</p><p>
  <b>Hex-Code</b>
</p><p>Contrary to what those Hunters who had received their training at Beacon, Shade and Haven Academies may have believed about their counterparts at Atlas Academy; giving them such nicknames as 'Jar-heads' and 'Toy soldiers' those who attended the icy Kingdoms' own academy underwent an altogether more unforgiving, all encompassing and almost certainly more effective training regimen.</p><p>The first difference between Atlas and its' counterparts was that the teams Atlas Academy presented to Remnant as a whole during events such as the Vytal Tournament were largely works of fiction.</p><p>True enough incoming students were organised into smaller groups and given dormitories to share though this was done for simple practicality; those teams were not left up to simple fate the whims of seventeen year old students to decide, rather their weapons, Semblances, information from their previous places of study and training and interviews prior to their attendance were all used to create teams that were as close to ideal as possible.</p><p>Where Atlas truly differed from the approach taken by the other academies however was that these teams were almost always temporary and given much more flexibility in terms of their utility and deployment, team composition could be changed, teams combined or disbanded with their individual members being assigned any number of roles such as taking charge of a battalion of battle-line infantry, robotic or otherwise, sent to the Specialist Branch with its' many esoteric subdivisions for enhanced training or simply deployed on a solo mission with the chance of being reformed into their original team at a later date.</p><p>Clover Ebi had therefore, as an Alumni of Atlas Academy become accustomed to frequently changing orders and the abrupt severing of ties and changing of scenery that accompanied them whenever the higher-ups within the chain of command deemed that he would be of more use elsewhere, a not uncommon occurrence given the nature of his Semblance which saw him deployed to the bleakest Grimm infested wastelands on the most dangerous of missions in an effort to tip the scales in Atlas's favour.</p><p>This was the first time such a reassignment had involved him being kidnapped from his barracks, placed in an Aura dampening collar and stuffed into a transport with a sack over his head.</p><p>Odd as it might seem to an outsider Clover was entirely unconcerned, before the Aura collar around his neck had been activated and temporarily robbed him of his Semblance he'd managed to cause a small burst of good fortune which, whilst not enough for the collar to fail or cause the men stuffing him into a car to trip over their own feet had been enough for a small tear to be opened in the sack as it was placed over his head, enough for him to see that the driver of the car he had been forced into was wearing an Atlesian uniform with decorations upon the shoulders which made his sea-green eyes widen in surprise; furthermore he could see enough to realise that the car was being driven nowhere in particular, simply a series of feints and misdirections intended to throw off anyone following them and likely to disorient Clover himself before finally coming to a stop.</p><p>"Okay get him out" a gruff voice demanded and within a moment Clover was pulled from the car, though he noted that if this was anything other than an attempt to maintain the highest levels of secrecy he would have been handled a lot more roughly. Through the small tear in the sack he caught brief and admittedly vague glimpses of scenery reminiscent of a Mantle industrial estate; likely one of many that were disused, closed as the under-cities' economy continued to falter as Atlas extracted more and more from it; Clover had more pressing matters to concern himself with however as he was led inside a warehouse and tied to a chair which had seemingly been bolted to the ground, the utter darkness of his surroundings taking what little sight he had away from him, his hearing went unhindered however and he listened intently for any sound other than those of his captors who were seemingly retreating hastily away until it was clear that they had abandoned the place entirely.</p><p>Then a series of mechanical clicks followed by the feeling of weight being lifted informed Clover that his cuffs and Aura dampening collar had been remotely deactivated and had fallen away; a moment later harsh lights glared even through the sack over his head which was in turn ripped away.</p><p>"Ebi, Clover. Born in Mantle, granted a scholarship to study at Atlas Academy through your local cadet group. You were placed in command of your initial student group at the Academy, dubbed Team CLVR which went on to rank sixth overall in the Vytal Tournament during your second year despite orders to hold back and keep your true capabilities hidden. Was deployed alongside former team-mate Robyn Hill in a civil pacification mission where you were both court-marshalled for failing to follow orders. Your last mission was as part of a joint operation with Mistral, operating as part of a Task Force operating out of Argus to apprehend rogue Atlesian Huntsman Tyrian Callows and ensure that he was handed to Atlesian authority or killed; you were initially successful, however the target breached containment during transport" the voice that read this log of the most notable moments of Clover's military career thus-far was gruff and smokey yet clearly feminine, the speaker pacing around him slowly and deliberately before coming to a stop behind him and using a tone that was detached and matter-of-fact until the moment the subject of the murderous and demented Scorpion Faunus had been broached at which point venom and open malice had seeped into each syllable.</p><p>"I also take my coffee with two sugars, gonna offer me a drink since you've invited me in?" Clover flashed a winning smile as he made the remark, still largely certain that he had nothing to worry about but not entirely sure and using his charm, or attitude has many superior officers had called it to create an opening; hopefully causing the speaker to divulge something.</p><p>It turned out that he needn't have bothered.</p><p>"No you don't" Clover was silenced by that, he had in fact been lying. The ropes tying him to the chair were cut in a single fluid motion and the painfully bright lights that disoriented him were reduced to more tolerable levels as the woman who had spoken stepped into view.</p><p>"Welcome to your new assignment. I presume you have questions" the as yet unnamed woman was tall and powerfully built, with broad shoulders and a stature that was overall intimidating; Clover guessed that she was perhaps ten years older than himself though had seen the kind of duty which left deep lines in the olive skin of her face and premature streaks of grey in chestnut coloured hair which had been tied back into a simple bun with a few strands hanging loose in front of eyes that were a strikingly vivid shade of green.</p><p>Her uniform was a departure from what one would expect of the Atlesian military in that whilst it largely followed the same design sensibilities it was made entirely of shades of black and grey; a heavy great-coat worn over it whose broad collar and right breast were littered with various medals including one which drew Clover's gaze; a stylized, angular and almost perfectly hexagonal skull laid over crossed spears and cast in pale silver.</p><p>Whilst the driver who had escorted him here and promptly retreated had born markings that identified them as part of the Specialist Branch this emblem was one that was spoken of in hushed whispers all throughout Atlas by soldiers and Hunters who claimed to know a person who knew a person who had seen it in person and upon seeing it there was only one question Clover could ask.</p><p>"So the Hunter Killers are real?"</p><p>"Not our official name of course….but one we don't dissuade people from using" the woman chuckled before adding "Our official name, as much as anything about this outfit can be considered to be official is 'Team HXCD'. My name is Hegarty Bridges, I'm your new commanding officer"</p><p>"I understand" Clover nodded and to an extent he did, this was as an entirely 'Off-the-books' operation and new official ranks had been used thus-far, giving him an idea of how far removed from the regular chain of command this team was; possibly only reporting to General Ironwood himself, if indirectly. Mulling over the facts as he understood them Clover came to a conclusion that seemed glaringly obvious to him.</p><p>"I'm here to help you track down Callows?" the small smirk that had formed on his face upon realising that he'd understood quickly vanished as Hegarty's expression darkened and her eyes seemed to shine with cold fury</p><p>"No" she snarled before taking a deep breath and steadying herself "Not initially at least. Team HXCD exists to track down any Atlesian Hunters who go rogue or any Hunters from other Kingdoms who may become a threat to Atlesian security….You're here to replace Callows" that particular revelation left Clover visibly stunned and utterly silent; the bloody carnage that the Scorpion Faunus had been able to leave in his wake suddenly seeming all the more understandable, yet all the more chilling for its' explanation.</p><p>Hegarty allowed the younger soldier a moment to process the information before speaking again, her tone brisk and businesslike.</p><p>"Now as I'm sure you've figured out, this is a secondary location we had you delivered to rather than our actual base of operations….So are there any questions that you need answered before we depart?"</p><p>"No" Clover shook his head as he finally rose from the seat he had initially been tied to; narrowing his eyes as he strained his ears before adding "But how about you have your backup come out where I can see them?" Hegarty paused for a moment before nodding silently, giving an order to those whose presence Clover had detected even as they remained out of sight.</p><p>"Oh he's good!" a new voice declared, high pitched and with the air of amusement as its' owner sauntered into view; black uniform contrasting with gaunt and deathly pale flesh drawn tight over a frame that walked a razors' edge between wiry muscle and emaciated husk, odd discolourations visible around the woman's neck and collarbones, whilst a shaggy mane of dark blue-grey fell about a thin and angular face with prominent cheekbones and dark rings around her fierce, yet wide and somewhat unfocused yellow eyes; the appearance gave Clover pause, it was a look he'd seen worn by Hunters who had experimented with Dust based combat-narcotics to improve their performance.</p><p>"Meet Luna Darksky" Hegarty declared before her eyes focused to a point over Clover's left shoulder "And Yuma Xanadu" Clover quickly whipped around to be confronted by a towering Bat Faunus with spiked hair and whose wings wrapped around his body to give him an appearance that could best be described as brooding and sinister.</p><p>"Yuma if you could be so kind as to prep our new recruit for surgery"</p><p>"WHAT-" Clover felt a needle pierce his skin and his vision immediately began to blur as his limbs grew heavy; as he felt himself collapse in slow motion and everything faded to black he heard Yuma's deep and smooth voice from above</p><p>"Quiet now"</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Clover was in complete agony, the pain completely consuming his body from within as it seemed to crash over him in burning waves that came from a thousand sources and set every nerve alight.</p><p>He had awoken to find himself in a room whose normalcy was unsettling, small, cramped and characterless in an inoffensive and sterile way that could have suggested that Clover's good fortune had led him away from whatever nightmarish ordeal he had been through and into a cheap motel somewhere were it not for the faint but distinctive medical scent pervading the air and the odd and indescribable, yet unshakeable oppressive atmosphere of his surroundings keeping the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.</p><p>Casting his eyes around Clover spied Kingfisher stood in a corner of the room close to the door beside bags which he recognised as his own; the being enough to have him rise out of the small bed he had been laid upon and in doing so catch sight of the bandages wrapped around much of his torso and midsection along with both arms.</p><p>Bile rose in his throat as half-formed and distorted fragments of memories came rushing back to him.</p><p>He had been operated on, though to what end he was entirely uncertain; all Clover could remember was a masked figure looming over his open chest cavity and barking orders for him to be put back under the influence of anaesthesia whilst wielding a tool which seemed more suited to industrial work than surgical in one hand and a vial of something in the other. As the memory solidified and congealed in his mind Clover staggered from the bed, could sweat beading at his temples and forehead as he lurched and swayed on trembling and unsteady legs like a newborn foal towards the small and pristine bathroom of his lodgings; barely making it to the toilet before ejecting what little contents his stomach contained before sinking to the cold floor and curling into a ball, shaking and sucking in ragged, frantic gasps of air in a desperate attempt to centre himself and focus; the techniques he had learned to withstand psychological torture at Atlas academy seeming entirely ineffective in his current circumstances.</p><p>"Yeah that's pretty much everyone's reaction to the treatment….it's why we don't tell you about it beforehand; you'd try to run and then we'd have to kill you" the smokey, matter-of-fact tone could only have come from Hegarty Bridges and Clover forced himself to look up at the woman who was, as far as he was aware, still his new commanding officer and push himself back into a sitting position though he was entirely unable to stop his trembling.</p><p>"You had that Bat Faunus operate on me?"</p><p>"Brothers no" Hegarty shook her head as she laughed "He just prepped you before handing you off to the doctor we keep on retainer, fully qualified I assure you; just not registered"</p><p>"What the hell did you do to me?" Clover's tone was dangerous, his throat raw and scratchy as he snarled the demand out; Hegarty looked thoroughly unimpressive and took a single step closer as her eyes narrowed.</p><p>"What we needed to. Understand this, every member of the Atlesian military is the property of the Atlesian military. You gave yourself to your Kingdom and it will be used as the Kingdom sees fit to ensure that Atlas prevails"</p><p>"What did you do?" Clover repeated, enunciating each word slowly and clearly</p><p>"Rebuilt you from the inside out" Hegarty answered calmly, voice regaining its' detached aloofness as she continued "Team HXCD exist specifically as a measure of last resort, the best of the best are what we're up against in every single deployment and we do it quietly; Atlas builds up its' heroes and makes them the face of the Kingdom until they step out of line, then we have to kill them….With that in mind you have to be better than the best, and that can't be done through training alone"</p><p>"Augmentations?"</p><p>"Chemical, surgical, cybernetic and limited use of nanotechnology….we tend to shy away from infusing our agents bones with Dust though, it has some nasty results if it goes wrong. You were lucky before, now you're dealing with a stacked deck" the sly jab at his Semblance was obvious though Clover chose to ignore it, he'd grown used to his hard work and dedication being ignored in favour of simply attributing everything he achieved to luck and he had far more important things to worry about in that moment; not least of which was finding out exactly what the augmentations to his body involved, he knew intuitively however that Hegarty wouldn't answer the question directly and so he chose another one to lead with</p><p>"You have the same….augmentations?"</p><p>"Everyone in HXCD does" the answer was the expected one and Clover cocked his head as he followed up</p><p>"Is that why Callows started his killing spree with doctors?….And why Darksky is clearly a raving junkie?" Hegarty's eyes flashed at the mention of the apparent traitor to Atlas who had been amongst their number before a bemused snort escaped her at the accusation directed at Luna</p><p>"The first is classified and you haven't earned the right to eavesdrop on those conversations yet….as for the latter….due to our skill-sets and service to the Kingdom Atlas allows members of Team HXCD to indulge in their, shall we say proclivities more than the average Hunter or officer"</p><p>"I see" Clover suppressed a shudder as he contemplated just how broad the scope of his new allies' abnormalities might be and despite his best efforts to keep his expression neutral he obviously betrayed something as Hegarty clucked her tongue and let a vaguely annoyed sigh</p><p>"Put your morals away Ebi, you've killed in the line of duty before. We brought your bags from your previous barracks and your new uniforms are in the closet. Report for a briefing in an hour….and remember, we're the good guys here; we just do the jobs that nobody wants to talk about" As Hegarty left Clover stared after her and wondered just how he had wandered this far into something he was clearly, entirely unprepared for and as he finally picked himself up off of the bathroom floor, still he dazed he found himself almost believing the woman's words.</p><p>As damning as he knew it to be, he understood that Atlas must prevail and that no weapon could be considered off-limits.</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>In what he considered to be a scathing indictment of his own morals and character Clover Ebi soon found his new assignment becoming just another duty to the Kingdom, to be undertaken with the same dedication as any other despite the allies he found himself working with, and even more questionably after spending months living and working alongside his fellow members of Team HXCD with extremely limited contact with the outside world Clover had soon found his initial reservations about the elite killers slipping and each of their respective aberrant idiosyncrasies slowly becoming nothing more than unique quirks that were simply part of each of their characters.</p><p>He'd found himself at home within a group of state sanctioned monsters.</p><p>Despite their introduction to one another and the misgivings it had led to Clover found Yuma to be the most normal, which he supposed simply meant the least unhinged of the group; though even this was an entirely relative thing. The Bat Faunus might have been able to mimic sanity and normalcy on a regular basis but there was no denying that the man was a sadist whose assignment to Hand the teams' limitless remit had given license to his darkest impulses and whilst Clover was unable to prove it he had long suspected that Yuma was also some sort of voyeur to boot. He was also, strangely enough a good cook, interesting conversation and a good sport about losing every game of cards the two of them played.</p><p>Whilst Yuma was a cold and calculating connoisseur of pain, his specialities lying in the slow and deliberate extraction of information from unwilling participants Luna Darksky represented an entirely different kind of violence. The emaciated waif of a woman was a manifestation of pure, primal savagery and destruction, a bloodthirsty mind tempered and refined by years of training and gifted with a powerful Semblance; the woman was ravenous in all of her appetites and was the most vocal proponent amongst Team HXCD for acceptable collateral damage or silencing of witnesses. She drank in excess, dabbled in narcotics and had become unashamedly addicted to surgery, always scouring Atlas's restricted files in search of the latest classified procedure to create more capable Hunters that she could volunteer herself for with each new experiment she allowed herself to be subjected to fuelling her already gargantuan ego until she truly believed herself to be unstoppable; yet in his frightening normalisation of his teams' problems Clover find himself most concerned with Luna's gluttony when it led her to steal food from the fridge that was clearly labelled.</p><p>Hegarty Bridges was a tyrant and a despot, plain and simple. The commanding officer of Team HXCD had a vision of the world she wished to see before her and any and all deviations from that vision were met with unrelenting force and punishment; in her own mind at least she was the will of Atlas made manifest, an unseen judgement falling upon those Hunters who chose to abandon their oaths to the icy Kingdom and such concepts as mercy and forgiveness were entirely foreign to her, as was the idea of failure.</p><p>A fact that was being proven at that very moment as Hex-Code's current mission came to a close.</p><p>"Ebi" Hegarty's voice was a harsh snapping as it forced him to focus on the situation "Yuma's ready to make his move; unfortunately the targets picked a hideout with more exits than we can cover….perhaps they'll all come this way, if we're lucky" the sound Luna snickering at the comment followed after the thinly veiled order and Clover nodded silently as he moved to do what was expected of him.</p><p>Currently Hex-Code were deployed far beyond the city limits of Mantle, having found themselves out in the barren tundra where only those with the most resilient Auras or expansive Dust supplies could hope to survive. One such Dust supply was the source of Atlas's current problems, a small and largely unimportant affair; the refinery was owned by one of the few smaller companies still striving to compete against the Schnee Dust Companies' monopoly of the industry. Following the White Fang's increasing activities in Mantle and their targeting of Dust shipments a handful of recently graduated Atlas students had been deployed to guard the facility; only for said students to assault a worker and fatally injury them and, fearing reprisals for their actions allow events to spiral out of control further, seizing control of the refinery and preparing for a siege. Yuma had killed three of them as he entered, a Semblance that allowed him to move silently and slip from the consciousnesses of those who saw him making him all but invisible as he led as many workers to safety as possible; his professionalism outweighing his sadism as the Bat Faunus knew that his thirst for blood would soon be sated.</p><p>Clover placed his hands on the outer wall of the refinery and activated his Semblance before nodding silently to Hegarty, who in turn murmured a single word into her Scroll.</p><p>Explosions rocked the refinery.</p><p>"Keep that Semblance up!" Hegarty demanded as reached beneath her signature black great-coat and withdrew her weapon, an executioners' axe which collapsed down into a pistol-gripped shotgun whilst behind her Luna's eyes grew wild and the younger of the two women positively salivated at the prospect of the coming violence.</p><p>"THIS WAY! THIS WAY!" the sound of panicked screaming reached their ears, the voices clearly belonging to younger individuals as Clover's Semblance had the desired result and out of all of the available exits available to them, the murders turned traitors came racing out of the one closest to where Hegarty, Clover and Luna were waiting.</p><p>"MINE!" Luna roared as she unleashed her own Semblance; the diminutive woman's shadow expanded out around her and burst upwards; fierce yellow eyes that matched her own as the obsidian shape grew and coalesced into a solid, monstrous form which Luna controlled through her own body. The rogue Hunters came skidding to a halt and attempted to draw their weapons but at that point it was far too late; Luna's nightmarish construct leapt into their midst, towering over them and swinging clawed limbs in wide arcs that painted the snow crimson as Auras failed and bodies were torn asunder, screams of pain and terror giving way to unsettling choking sounds. One Hunter however, one who Clover recognised from their briefing as the apparent leader of the group had more presence of mind than his compatriots and rushed forwards, abandoning them to their fate as he drew a sword and weaved around Luna's living shadow; clearly attempting to charge at the Huntresses.</p><p>He never reached them.</p><p>"Lucky you" Clover found himself wearing a sinister sneer as he chuckled at Hegarty; the young man, barely in his twenties having been brought crashing to a halt with the hook of Kingfisher embedded in his back. Hegarty merely readied her shotgun and produced an Aura dampening collar as she strode towards Clover and the target that he was now effortlessly keeping pinned to ground, Clover had learned that it was far easier and far more productive to think of them as targets, a ubiquitous term that could apply to anything it needed to.</p><p>"Find Yuma. Locate any remaining workers and begin destroying any cameras, purge the hard-drives the footage is saved to. We were never here" Clover and Luna both snapped off quick salutes before following their orders whilst Hegarty turned to the young man whose face was ashen as they realised the enormity of their crimes.</p><p>"As for you….you are charged with treason" with that Hegarty locked the collar firmly around their neck and Clover was glad to be walking away, he knew what came next and had no desire to watch "The punishment for rogue Hunters is death" with that a single booming report rang out as Hegarty fired her shotgun point-blank into her prisoners' skull.</p><p>Another successful mission for Hex-Code.</p><p>As he trudged through the snow, back towards the still burning refinery Clover found himself wrestling with the tattered remains of his conscience once again as his team proved to him that they were no less depraved and monstrous than those they dispensed justice on and that the only real difference between them was which of them had the luxury of wearing an Atlesian uniform.</p><p>Clover was accustomed to having his Semblance used to stack the odds, but to tip the scales even further in Hex-Code's favour seemed uniquely heinous to him; Atlas be damned.</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Much of the base of operations that Team HXCD called home was disturbingly normal, its' furnishings and layout so close to what Clover would consider ordinary that the idea of those who resided within it being the most skilled and excessively ruthless Hunters that Atlas had ever produced seemed entirely laughable; something which Clover had privately reasoned was a large contributing factor in how comfortable he had allowed himself to grow within the team and how far he had allowed himself to fall.</p><p>Something had changed in him.</p><p>When Clover looked in the mirror he no longer saw the ma he had once been, he found himself slowly becoming the sinister figure that one would expect of a member of a group of 'Hunter-Killers' spoken about in hushed whispers between Hunters and students of Atlas Academy.</p><p>Beyond the fact that his wardrobe was now comprised entirely of sinister black clothing which changed trinkets like the lucky rabbits' foot he carried from a superstitious knick-knack into a macabre trophy he'd allowed his beard to grow out, giving him a sterner and more intimidating appearance but the most worrying thing to Clover was the change in his eyes, there was now an unfathomably distant, haunted look that filled them.</p><p>He hated it.</p><p>Currently he was situated within the living room of their base of operations, one which looked hauntingly familiar to the one that Clover had grown up in with its' traditional Mantle décor, perusing a newspaper and allowing himself derisive snort as he read a story relating to the collapse of a building in Argus days prior; whilst Clover found himself agreeing with the sentiments expressed by the columnist regarding Atlas's chronic underfunding of its' territories infrastructure the fact remained that the collapse was entirely unrelated to investments and building codes, instead it was the result of Hex-Code being deployed to intercept a former Atlesian Hunter suspected to be rendezvousing with the Argus Chapter of the White Fang. The target had been neutralised, as they always were yet Clover and Hegarty had found themselves at odds, an increasingly common phenomenon as he had insisted that they take the target prisoner and question them rather than simply execute them there and then as the leader of the team intended.</p><p>Eventually the choice had been take from their hands as Luna, in a fit of narcotics fuelled rage had smashed the renegade Hunter through several support struts which kept the building upright.</p><p>The diminutive woman was currently sat in a nearby chair enjoying a breakfast that was cartoonishly large in proportion to Luna herself, yet Clover had grown used to such sights and merely shook his head and sighed as she proceeded to all but inhale bacon, eggs and toast</p><p>"Will you at least clean the crumbs up after yourself?" he asked irritably</p><p>"Probably not" Luna answered through a mouthful of food, once again proving that once outside of mission parameters anything other than instant gratification seemed to be entirely beyond her; Clover scowled and couldn't help but notice fresh marks on her arms where she had doubtless experimented with yet another batch of Dust-based combat drugs, though he decided against mentioning it as he knew it would be futile at best. Currently the two of them were alone, Hegarty having left to report to one of Ironwood's proxies as the General himself couldn't afford to be seen with any member the team whilst Yuma's whereabouts were something Clover firmly decided that he didn't want to consider.</p><p>He didn't have to as a moment later Hegarty strode into the living room with Yuma close behind, both of them wearing the looks of steely determination that Clover had realised meant that a new mission had been received.</p><p>"Attention!" Hegarty snapped as she slapped a manilla folder down onto the coffee table between Clover and Luna, Clover setting his newspaper aside whilst Luna continued to eat until a harsh glare made her more cooperative</p><p>"We have a new assignment" she stated flatly, confirming what each of her team already knew to be the case "Clover you read the news….I assume you're familiar with what the rags are calling 'The Mantle Mauler'"</p><p>"I am" Clover nodded slowly before his eyes widened in horror and disgust "That's a Hunter?" over the recent months there had been a series of murders within the depths of the Kingdom, so grisly in nature that the initial victims had been dismissed as having been in some vehicular or industrial accident and their bodies moved by those responsible in an effort to escape justice; even once it had become apparent that this was the work of an individual whose penchant for extreme violence rivalled Hex-Codes' own methods the Kingdom had been slow to react as the vast majority of the murderers' victims seemed to be members of the under-cities' criminal element; Clover had in fact wondered if this was another of Atlas's secret black-ops units being dispatched for just the purpose.</p><p>This revelation changed things drastically.</p><p>"They were a Hunter, now they're a target" Hegarty growled, the fire in her eyes at the thought of dispensing heavy-handed justice igniting once again "Sanguine Brimstone….Graduated Atlas Academy fifteen years ago. For the last seven years they've been operating as part of a heavy weapons outfit tasked with bringing down Grimm Spawning Pits"</p><p>"Over exposure?" Yuma rasped out tentatively, he and Clover had privately discussed that the reason that dissent with Atlesian ranks was high enough to necessitate a team of executioners such as themselves was at least in part due to the Kingdoms' tendency to push its' Hunters far beyond their limits until their reason and sanity finally failed them in spectacular fashion after being forced to combat the worst horrors imaginable for so long; the conversation had been in private as neither man was sure how Hegarty would react to such claims, at the moment however the woman merely nodded in agreement</p><p>"It looks like he snapped….although picking up some odd religious beliefs can't have helped" she made a face of utter disgust as she continued "Some Cult that Atlas as had its' eye on, they call themselves the Silver Light….bunch of fanatics, although I suppose that they're not exactly wrong. They believe that since the Grimm are drawn to negativity, sources of said negativity should be cast out"</p><p>"And so he went and killed the people making life miserable for everyone else" Clover surmised</p><p>"How….what weapon does he have that does that kind of damage?" Luna demanded, eyes lighting up as a notion occurred to her "I want it"</p><p>"It's not a weapon" Hegarty answered before withdrawing several photographs from the manilla folder and placing them on the coffee table for her unit to see; Sanguine Brimstone was a mountain of a man, easily seven feet tall and with biceps larger than Clover's chest and tanned, leathery skin criss-crossed with scars, curiously it seemed that he had been blinded in some mission or other as his eyes were covered with cybernetic augmentations which only made the rictus grin of a smile he wore in each photograph look all the more unhinged. Clover would readily have believed that this man, with the benefits of an unlocked Aura had simply torn his opponents limb from limb by hand, though what Hegarty said next chilled him further than even that revelation would have.</p><p>"Brimstone is notable for the fact that he doesn't use weapons….His Semblance allows him a degree of tactile telekinesis….in layman's terms if he can keep hold of you for thirty seconds he will turn you inside out with the power of his own mind" there was a moment of silence as each member of Team HXCD contemplated this challenge, realising that even with all of their own skills and advantages this would likely be the most difficult challenge they had ever faced; yet Clover squared his shoulders and began the process of mentally preparing himself, whatever his changing opinions towards his current assignment were the fact that this was a threat to the people of Mantle and Atlas remained and he knew from experience that there was only one question left to be asked</p><p>"When do we make our move?"</p><p>"Tonight" Hegarty answered, confirming his suspicions "Evacuation of the surrounding areas has already started, I'm expecting this to get messy"</p><p>That at least was something Clover could agree with.</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Luna was furious.</p><p>Hex-Code had arrived at the location that their latest target had holed himself up in, a dingy and disused complex of old, brick buildings that had once been a steelworks; Atlesian Steel was still the Kingdoms' second largest export after its' Dust but this particular establishment had faltered during the Great War and never truly recovered, being outpaced and outmoded by newer, larger foundries.</p><p>None of this mattered to Luna of course, the pallid waif of a woman was primarily concerned with the mission and Hex-Code's role within it. Yuma had, as always been sent scouting ahead to locate the target; there were dozens, if not hundred of places for Sanguine Brimstone to hide in a place such as this and it would take the Bat Faunus's skills and superior senses to track down their quarry without being found. Once Brimstone was located Clover and Hegarty would move in for the kill, the two of them working in tandem was a force that few opponents could hope to survive despite the increasing regularity of arguments between the two as the teams' newest recruit grew steadily more defiant and insubordinate. Luna however had been placed in reserve, lurking on the periphery where she would swoop in and deliver a killing blow if their target managed to escape beyond the confines of the steelworks in what she considered to be a monumental waste of her talents.</p><p>"Stupid Tyrian!" she spat venomously, laying all of her problems at the feet of the Scorpion Faunus who had betrayed their trust; there was a time when she and Callows had served as the twin prongs of any attack Team HXCD mounted and laid waste to anything in their path. The two had been a dangerous pair, to such an extent that even Hegarty had been concerned by the effect that they had on one another, with Tyrian urging Luna to ever greater acts of violence whilst she pushed the limits of his devotion to the Atlesian cause by urging him to volunteer himself for treatment after experimental treatment until his mind finally shattered under the strain; though Hegarty had simply declared that it had only revealed who he had been all along and that the Faunus couldn't change his nature; the whole ordeal leaving Hex-Code with a nemesis who could apparently survive the airship he was aboard being torn in half and leaving Luna to be severely curtailed.</p><p>"Ridiculous" she grumbled as she paced in the snow, eyes narrowing as she observed her own shadow "I should be leading the mission….In fact I could have handled this alone, but no Clover got Lucky and won a fight with Tyrian so now he gets all the fun jobs when he can't even follow orders; it's pathetic….I should take over this operation and-"</p><p>Her furious ranting to nobody in particular was brought to an abrupt halt as a far larger shadow fell over her and she felt a hot breath on the back of her neck. For all of her vaunted skills and the countless procedures she had been subjected to in order to make herself a more effective killer Luna Darksky was entirely too slow to stop a pair of mammoth sized hands from grasping her, one around her throat and another covering her mouth.</p><p>"I've been expecting you" the voice that spoke was a rumbling bass-note that was felt as much as it was heard and Luna knew that it could only belong to Sanguine Brimstone.</p><p>"Negativity draws the Grimm….what could help them more than Atlas's own monsters; the ones it sends to kill Hunters?" Luna's eyes widened in horror as she struggled desperately, realising that their entire operation was doomed and that they had walked into a trap. It was to no avail however and Sanguine made no effort to fight back, simply tightening his grasp whilst his own deep red Aura, the colour of arterial spray began to shimmer around him; bleeding outwards and enveloping Luna who realised with a deep, sickening dread what was about to happen as she began to count backwards from thirty in her head.</p><p>When she reached zero the snow and ground were painted crimson and Luna Darksky ceased to be.</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Clover sprinted frantically through the abandoned steelworks, racing towards the direction that Yuma's emergency beacon was transmitting from; Hegarty had responded and assured the Bat Faunus that she too was coming to his aid yet Luna had remained silent, a dreadful realisation dawning on Clover as he saw only one possible reason for the most volatile member of their team to ignore being called to battle.</p><p>He came surging out into the main area of the foundry and saw that in some bizarre twist of fate that would normally be attributed to his own Semblance the foundry was at least partially active despite being seemingly abandoned; perhaps the White Fang or some other similarly well organised criminal faction had been using it to procure their own steel to both produce armour and weapons and sell to fund their activities. Such speculation was unimportant however, what mattered to Clover was that he could see Hegarty frantically climbing the framework of a massive overhead crane intended to move vast silos of molten metal; her intention soon became clear as he scanned the gloom of the foundry and saw that on a nearby gangway several dozen feet above him Yuma was locked in combat with the bloodstained juggernaut that was Sanguine Brimstone.</p><p>The serial killers' crimson Aura flickered with each blow Yuma Landed, the Bat Faunus wielding a pair knives and fought with all the skill and ruthlessness that one could expect of one of Atlas's most elite Hunters; the various augmentations that each of Team HXCD had been subjected to becoming apparent as his crumpled left wing unfurled itself and healed from the injuries that had been inflicted on it and Yuma displaying more agility and raw power than should have been possible, delivering a palm strike to Brimstone's chest after having one of his knives knocked from his grip that broke the larger mans' ribs with an audible snap that echoed through the foundry. It was far from a one sided affair however and Brimstone threw one mighty blow after another, forcing Yuma back and pushing the Faunus onto the defensive, the Faunus flitting around him until the larger man finally lashed out and grasped his opponent by the skull, driving his head into the railing of the walkway that they fought on, leaving him dazed for long enough for Brimstone to trigger his explosive Semblance.</p><p>Clover sprung into action with without conscious thought, leaping into the air and casting the hooked barb of Kingfisher upwards towards the railings and using it to hurl himself if into the air before slipping between the individual bars of the gangways' railing and delivering a punishing kick to his adversaries knee, crumpling the joint and forcing Brimstone to release Yuma with a pained howl.</p><p>Impressive as the manoeuvrer was however it had left the three of them in confined quarters, far from the ideal way for Clover to combat his current adversary who excelled in such conditions; realising that he needed an opportunity to be created he tapped into his Semblance as Brimstone rounded on him and attempted to grab him; he weaved around several attempts and landed vicious blows from all angles in retaliation, using Kingfisher as blunt cudgel before embedding its' hook in his opponents' clothing and casting its' line out over the foundry and retracting it once again with a flick of the wrist.</p><p>Good fortune prevailed and Brimstone was ripped from his feet and flung through the air.</p><p>The behemoth of a man flew across the foundry before coming crashing to a halt atop the crane that Hegarty had been scaling, just as Hex-Code's leader reached the top and hefted her gleaming axe. The tip of Clover's weapon arced out in unexpected development and struck something mechanical before retracting, the air being filled with the rumbling growl of machinery as a result before the crane began to whir and clank into life, moving slowly until Hegarty and Brimstone prepared to do battle whilst suspended over a vat of molten steel.</p><p>The two rushed at each other and impacted with cataclysmic force that seemed make the air around them tremble in fear; Hegarty clearly relishing the look of surprise on her enemies' face as she used her own Semblance, a shock-wave of raw concussive force bursting from her extended palm and robbing Brimstone of his momentum, leaving unable to avoid her falling axe as it tore into his chest and shoulder. The rogue Hunter continued to fight however, knocking Hegarty back and forcing her to release her weapon which he promptly ripped free of his body and tossed over the crane and into the pool of glowing, molten metal below before rushing forwards to close the distance again. The metal frame of the crane groaned in protest as the two of them met and Clover watched in horror as the pair grappled and Brimstone's grin morphed into a truly demented rictus grin as he overpowered Hegarty and pinned the woman in place whilst wrapping his monstrous hands around her throat; his crimson Aura seeping out to envelop her. Time slowed to a crawl and Clover's eyes widened in shock as he realised what would happen next and was forced to watch his prediction come true when Hegarty reached out grasped the crane firmly with both hands and unleashed her own Semblance with all her might before Brimstone's Semblance could reduce her to a fine mist.</p><p>The crane was blown apart and both Hegarty and Brimstone fell downwards into the waiting molten steel below, whatever augmentations Hex-Code's leader had been subjected to doing nothing to save her from her fate.</p><p>"Brothers…." Clover whispered, stunned to the core despite everything he had seen thus far as he stood frozen in place. All Hunters knew that they could be expected to lay down their lives on a mission and those trained in Atlas were no exception, yet witnessing Hegarty sacrifice herself was still difficult to comprehend, even if Clover knew that she was as fanatical in her own beliefs as Brimstone had been in his. His mind was forced back to the matter at hand by the sound of Yuma dragging himself to his feet beside him and surveying the situation himself, eyes narrowing as he calculated things in his own particularly cold and distant way.</p><p>"Fifty percent casualties….target neutralised, objective complete" Clover doubted he would ever hear words that summed up Team HXCD more perfectly.</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>His face felt strange without the beard.</p><p>Clover knew that it was an odd thing to focus on but the sensation was one that kept him grounded in the midst of the buzz of activity around him as the grand reveal of his latest assignment devolved into the spectacle and media circus it was always designed to be.</p><p>Team HXCD had been officially disbanded, or at least as officially as such a secretive program could ever be and Clover had been given time to recover before being contacted by General Ironwood who delivered his latest assignment in person. The change in appearance had felt warranted and Clover, now clean-shaven and clad in the uniform of his new position, the traditional pristine and snowy white and deep navy blue of the Atlesian military highlighted with bright, cherry red felt like a new man, the emblem of a four leafed clover and horseshoe replacing the hexagonal silver skull badge of the Hunter-Killer team that he had worn for the last few years giving feeling like freedom, as though some vital but undefinable part of himself had been returned to him; if he were being sentimental Clover would admit that it felt as though he were being given his soul and identity back along with a sense of purpose that had been lost and corrupted somewhere along the line as HXCD had eroded the edges of compassion and decency; now he could return to making Atlas a better place.</p><p>Though quite how he was supposed to do that with this new team was still somewhat of a mystery to him.</p><p>Ace-Ops were supposedly the grouping of some of Atlas's best and brightest into a single team that would act as a rapid response unit to any and all threats within the Kingdom, behaving more in line with what other Kingdoms expected of their Hunters rather than the grim enforcers that Atlas produced and whilst Clover freely admitted it was a noble goal he couldn't help but think that the entire thing reeked of politics and propaganda.</p><p>The first members of this new bastion of hope against the Grimm and all other threats, foreign and domestic, as they had been described were Elm Ederne and Vine Zeki; a married couple who had been partnered together upon arriving at Atlas Academy as teenagers and had remarkably never been deployed separately in their careers such was their effectiveness when working in tandem, Clover would freely admit that each of them was a remarkably capable Hunter though one only had to look at the coverage to see that this fact had been roundly dismissed as unimportant, the couple portrayed in a romantic and heroic light that made it clear to anyone with a modicum of intelligence that they were being used as part of a recruitment drive.</p><p>The next member of the team was Marrow Amin, a Husky Faunus and the only member of Ace-Ops; Clover had read his file and couldn't help but feel sorry for him, all Faunus recruits had been scrutinised by Team HXCD for signs of White Fang sympathies in a brazen display of bigotry under Hegarty and Clover knew that Marrow had struggled against closed minds and unfair assumptions for the last four years as a student, being denied a position within the Specialist Branch that should have been his by any fair assessment only to be given this assignment as a fresh-faced graduate, it was an obvious ploy to place a Faunus front and centre and deny that glaring societal problems within the Kingdom and something in Marrow's expression made it clear that he knew it.</p><p>The final member of the team was one Harriet Bree and she too had been watched by Team HXCD and their shadowy handlers who existed to give General Ironwood plausible deniability, though in the young woman's case the scrutiny had seemed more fair. Harriet had been an exceptional student by all accounts and had ranked third overall in a Vytal Tournament some years ago, her problem however seemed to lie in working with others rather than authority; on the contrary she would follow any order given to her seemingly regardless of how questionable it might be only to flare up into fits of anger if her performance was ever in danger of being outshone. Clover could see the logic of recruiting her however, the General wanted a team of Hunters that others could aspire to and each of Ace-Ops filled a specific niche and archetype, Harriet Bree was the loner, anti-hero and bad-girl of the team which was a notion which frankly Clover had to stop himself from laughing at.</p><p>If only he could figure out what he was doing here.</p><p>It still made no sense to him, he had led missions before but not of this nature and whilst he certainly had experience in taking down all manner of threats to Atlas's security he doubted that his methodology would be appreciated by the press, likewise it was not as if his story could but told which left him a blank slate of a Hunter with no history which he calmly surmised might in fact be the goal, a leader who was a non-entity outside of vague heroism that the public could project whatever they wished to see on to.</p><p>That idea left him the moment he saw Robyn Hill skulking at the back of the press conference flanked by her usual accomplices, glaring at him in a way that made it clear that nothing had been forgiven.</p><p>Suddenly he understood. Robyn, his fellow alumni of Team CLVR who had left the Atlesian Military in open disgust after the 'Civil pacification' missions that the two of them had been deployed on early in his career had made something of a name for herself in Mantle recently; charity work within the under-city had quickly progressed into several unsanctioned missions which Atlas allowed to continue simply because it was cost-effective to do so and saved the Council from allotting any of its' own resources to those who were figuratively and literally beneath them, from there Robyn had begun to gather followers which coalesced into an armed faction with a clear ideology which was distinctly against the current establishment. Rather than taking the approach that the White Fang had favoured Robyn had largely stayed within the confines of the law and there were rumblings throughout Mantel of her running for office in the near future, though there were still several instances of companies with questionable practices or supplies that had bee redirected away from Mantle mysteriously finding their way to the under-city which Robyn professed to know nothing about whilst wearing a devilish smirk.</p><p>The truth struck Clover like a physical blow; he was here to be a threat.</p><p>Robyn knew of Atlas's fabled Hunter-Killers as much as any student of the Academy did and would certainly be able to surmise why Clover had vanished off the face of Remnant after capturing Tyrian Callows should rightly have made him a hero, only to return as the leader of this task-force.</p><p>If Clover was honest with himself he would rather have been used for his Semblance than for this.</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Everything was dark and his entire body was in excruciating pain, which Clover supposed was what one could expect to feel if they woke up inside of a body bag.</p><p>With his muscles screaming in protest with each movement he began the process of escaping, unfastening the bag from the inside and wriggling free whilst uncomfortably aware of the cold sweat clinging to his clammy flesh. Once free he gulped down several greedy lungfuls of air as he frantically tried to peace together what had happened, the final few moments before he had lost consciousness were a jumbled mess of chaotic thoughts which a single glance downwards forced into order without mercy; his entire uniform was stained crimson and he realised that if he started closely enough at the gaping wound in his torso he could almost see through his entire body, yet even now his flesh stitched itself together at an inhuman rate despite Clover's Aura having been visibly depleted before he received the injury.</p><p>The sight was enough to make him retch and heave</p><p>"Quiet now" the voice that wafted from the cockpit of the transport was smooth, like diesel oil for the ears and was one that Clover had honestly never expected to hear again.</p><p>"What? How?" he sputtered in naked confusion</p><p>"HXCD augmentations, they made you more durable….they just take a while to work, never fully tested" Yuma explained as he stepped into view, allowing Clover to see the original crew of the transport slumped over in the cockpit, unconscious and with tranquilliser darts piercing their skin. Clover found himself staring at his own bloody and mauled body for several moments longer in stunned silence, the idea that he had cheated death so soundly something that he was entirely unprepared for; though eventually he managed to direct his mind towards the other unavoidable questions.</p><p>"What's going on?"</p><p>"I was hoping you could tell me" Yuma answered with an irritable glower "While you were playing hero I had my own mission….I come back to Atlas to find a blockade and an attack in progress. I picked up chatter about Callows and decided to settle old scores, apparently you had the same idea?"</p><p>"It's more complicated than that" Clover murmured as his mind raced, replaying his fight against Qrow and Tyrian and realising how monumental his errors in judgement had been; the old Hex-Code doggedness having taken over and clouded his judgement.</p><p>"More complications….brilliant" Yuma grumbled with a derisive snort and Clover was about to snap out a biting reply until he froze, something registering on senses that he assumed must have been improved to some degree as whatever he was experiencing went beyond panicked adrenaline; he quickly found himself uttering words that he'd once said to Hegarty</p><p>"How about you have your backup come out where I can see them" Yuma paused for a fraction of a second before nodding.</p><p>"Ilia" at his request a young woman slipped into view, the darkness of her clothing and her own natural camouflage having allowed her to hide in the dimly lit transport; Clover quickly realised that he was looking at a chameleon Faunus though beyond that he couldn't place her</p><p>"We've got bigger problems than Tyrian Callows right now" the woman, Ilia had a Mantle accent much like the one Clover had sought to suppress lest it make him identifiable, it was a surprise though an oddly welcome one. Yuma nodded in silent agreement and returned to the cockpit, bidding for Clover to follow him; he struggled to his feet which wobbled uncertainly under him until Ilia steadied him and used her own body to support him.</p><p>His knees still nearly buckled under him once he reached the cockpit.</p><p>The largest Single Grimm Clover had ever seen, almost equal in size to Atlas itself flew towards the city; so massive that it seemed to have its' own atmosphere of roiling thunderclouds gathered around it, complemented by a swarm of tens of thousands of winged horrors which swallowed Atlesian airships with their sheer weight of numbers as they advanced. Clover let out a near hysterical laugh at the notion of being revived from death just to face this.</p><p>"Oh lucky me"<br/>
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Authors Notes:</p><p>Okay so this is part one of three in my "Atlas: Declassified" series that will update periodically.<br/>
I initially had four different ideas for other secret projects that Atlas has, because there's no way that Penny and the Aura Transfer machines are the only dirty little secrets they had pre Vol.7; the stories were initially going to be completely unconnected but once I realised that I could use canon characters in place of OCs in certain places a loose narrative took shape between three of the stories, the one that didn't fit was ironically the first of my four original ideas that I had, although I'll probably write it just not as part of this series.<br/>
I feel like this is conceptual than my usual work which I've told is more character driven….and God I feel like a hipster just writing that.<br/>
The seeds for parts two and three have been sown here and the series will jump around in time before getting back to the cliffhanger of the Vol.7 finale; also I'll be posting them as separate stories as each "Declassified file" deals with a different plot bunny that I had…..Although they're still more connected than the Cloverfield films so hey, deal with it.<br/>
Stay tuned for "Atlas: Declassified – Operation Hen-House"</p><p>In the meantime let's summarise:<br/>
I like the idea of Atlas having a completely different training programme to other Academies, we didn't see half of Team FNKI until Vol.7, we haven't seen Ciel again, we've never met the other half of Penny's team and honestly it just seems to fit the vibe that the Kingdom has; the Hunters are cogs in a machine just like everything else.<br/>
Of course Clover gets regularly reassigned, even in the FNDM all everyone focuses on in his Semblance so it stands to reason that Atlas would routinely send him to wherever they need the scales tipping.<br/>
Is it really a covert team if nobody gets a cliché kidnapping.<br/>
Also, Aura dampening collars are a headcanon of mine….I thought that the cuffs we saw in Vol.7 would have done that job but Harriet could clearly use her Semblance with them on.<br/>
Clover being born in Mantle just works for me.<br/>
I'm sure you could all guess who the R in "Team CLVR" was before I said it, since they were competing in the Vytal Tournament they would have been acting like a team for at least most of one year.<br/>
'Civil pacification' exactly what you think it is.<br/>
In Vol.7 it felt like Clover had a grudge with Tyrian just as much as Qrow and Robyn did so I wanted to explore that, so I made him part of the joint task force who brought him in….Also notice that the orders he was given did not permit Tyrian to end up in Mistrali custody.<br/>
"No you don't" bitch you thought.<br/>
Of course Atlas has Hunter Killers and of course they wear all black uniforms.<br/>
HXCD/Hex-Code, or Hexidecimal Code, as in HTML Colours….get it? They're not a colour like other teams, they Find the colours<br/>
And that's why Tyrian had to be brought in by Atlas or killed, he knows too many secrets….and he's got more of their secrets inside him.<br/>
Yes that's Brother Yuma from Vol.5<br/>
Also I don't know if anyone realised this but HXCD are actually a precursor to Ace-Ops and all of the members are based on Aesop's Fables; Hegarty Bridges is based on 'The Two Goats' Tyrian was obviously based on 'The Scorpion and the Frog' and Luna Darksky was based on 'The Wolf and His Shadow'….I'm sure you can figure out what Yuma is based on; and yes Yuma and Tyrian's inspirations will be touched on more in later parts of this series.<br/>
Also I drew inspiration from the Transformers characters that form "The Wreckers" a highly effective black-ops team whose members also happen to be at least as bad as the Decepticons, with members that are sadists, drug addicts and murderers who execute prisoners.<br/>
The knockout, another time honoured cliché.<br/>
Okay I know it probably sound edgy for the sake of being edgy, but operating on their 'Hunter-Killers' fits the theme of Atlas having more skeletons in its' closet and it's honestly logical when you think about it, like Hegarty said; they're going after some Atlas's best.<br/>
Someone said Clover must get sick of having hours of hard work and study ignored in favour of him just being lucky and yeah, that's definitely true.<br/>
Tyrian has the same augmentations; and his killing spree went from Atlas to Mistral….In my head he definitely came though Argus.<br/>
With how Clover acted in Vol.7 especially towards the ends I'm perfectly willing to believe that he thought the ends justified the means at some point in his career.<br/>
Tell me honestly Yuma didn't give you some creeper vibes in Vol.5.<br/>
So yeah, nobody on HXCD has clean hands, they're all the bad guy in any circumstances other than the ones that they're in.<br/>
I'll be honest the whole point of the scene at the refinery was just to show what Clover was finding himself getting used to and how the team acted, it's not plot relevance it just adds weight.<br/>
Someone made an edit of Clover with a beard and I liked it, so bearded Clover.<br/>
Just how many of Atlas's Faunus students end up deciding that they'd be more appreciated in the White Fang I wonder?<br/>
"They were a Hunter, now they're a target" sums up HXCD completely.<br/>
Sanguine Brimstone….Apart from having a ridiculously edgy name, was also based on a Transformers Character; anyone who's read MTMTE/Lost Light will recognise his Semblance as being inspired by "Sunder" also the fact that he was blinded was a nod to Sunder having his eyes removed as a safety precaution.<br/>
Also the idea of over-exposure to Grimm, seems like something that makes perfect sense to me; like PTSD+.<br/>
As does a cult like the one that Brimstone has joined, think like the film "Equilibrium" the whole idea being "Emotions are the cause of the problem, remove the emotions" or in this case the source of negativity….Also Silver Light is obviously a nod to Silver Eyes.<br/>
Urban decay in Mantle, the joy.<br/>
I had to give some background of what Tyrian was like when he was part of the team and yes the "Can't change his nature" was intentional.<br/>
The real question is what kind of experiment did they do to him that made him finally snap….don't worry, you'll see.<br/>
"Why"exclaimed the Wolf proudly "See how big I am! Fancy me running away from a puny Lion! I'll show him who is fit to be king, he or I."Just then an immense shadow blotted him out entirely, and the next instant a Lion struck him down with a single blow….And just like that Luna Darksky meets her fate.<br/>
Also yeah, Brimstone was a Hunter he knows that Atlas has something like HXCD and lured them our.<br/>
The whole thing of the foundry being up and running was pure plot convenience….which I will maintain I can get away with as long as Clover is there.<br/>
Yuma's wing fixing itself was obvious foreshadowing.<br/>
Yuma got lucky.<br/>
I'll be honest I love "Shock-Wave" Semblances.<br/>
Their pride would not permit either to stand aside for the other.<br/>
One set her foot on the log. The other did likewise. In the middle they met horn to horn. Neither would give way, and so they both fell, to be swept away by the roaring torrent below….And just like the two goats, Hegarty Bridges meets her end through sheer stubbornness.<br/>
Let's be honest, Yuma's a cold son of a bitch but if what we've seen from Atlas so far is any indication; his mentality is one that the Kingdom actively encourages.<br/>
The formation of Ace-Ops was definitely a media circus.<br/>
Elm and Vine were high-school sweethearts and the press adore them for it.<br/>
Good old anti-Faunus racism on display in Atlas once again.<br/>
So yeah, Marrow is fresh out of the Academy; he should have been given a spot in the same division as Winter but was stonewalled and instead used as a poster child for diversity hires; it's bullshit and he knows it.<br/>
Harriet is the teams' government assigned bad-ass.<br/>
Clover and Robyn definitely have history; look at their interactions and tell me they don't….then tell me that putting one of Robyn's old team-mates in charge of a team implicitly built to keep her group in line isn't exactly the kind of thing Atlas would do.<br/>
Come on surely you knew where the whole augmentation thing was going to end?….I take the hammer and I fix the canon.<br/>
"Quiet now" is pretty much the only memorable line Yuma had which is unacceptable considering the fanfare that he was given when he was introduced.<br/>
I'm sure you can all figure out what Yuma's mission was, but if you can't don't worry….We'll cover it in part 03; along with his Aesop's Fable allusion.<br/>
Had to bring it full circle and have the whole "Allies hidden out of the way" thing come back.<br/>
Also yeah, Ilia and Yuma working together.<br/>
"Oh lucky me"…..Was there anything else he could have said?</p><p>Thank you to everyone who reads and a special thanks to those of you who follow, favourite and subscribe.</p>
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